1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system operating system boot, and more particularly to a system and method for information handling system boot device branding with boot information.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems are generally assembled from multiple hardware devices that interact with each other and peripheral devices under the management of an operating system. The operating system runs on the central processing unit (“CPU”) to enable interaction of software applications with the hardware devices to process information and perform desired tasks. On initial power-up of an information handling system, the operating system is retrieved from permanent storage, such as a hard disc drive, in a process typically known as bootstrapping or boot. Generally, when power is applied to the information handling system a basis input/output system (“BIOS”) determines a boot device and initiates retrieval of the operating system from the boot device for loading on the CPU and in random access memory (“RAM”). Typically, with WINDOWS based operating systems, the devices that are capable of supporting a boot are listed in the operating system in an order corresponding to the order in which the BIOS will prioritize initiation of boot from the devices. Often, a device that supports a removable storage medium, such as a floppy or optical drive, is listed with the highest priority followed by hard disc drives in a predetermined order. The BIOS checks each device in order and generally retrieves the operating system from the hard disc drive having the first boot priority.
One difficulty that can arise with an information handling system boot is that the order of the boot devices for the information handling system BIOS does not correspond to the order of the devices as listed in the operating system. For instance, with UNIX based operating systems, such as Linux, there is no relationship between BIOS hard disc drive ordering and operating system drive enumeration. Thus, as boot transitions from the BIOS to the operating system, the different enumerations of the hard disc drives by the BIOS and operating system may result in the operating system seeking to retrieve information for boot from an incorrect hard disc drive, leading to boot failure. Inconsistent enumeration of hard disc drives between the BIOS and operating system is particularly troublesome where Linux is used to load WINDOWS based images on hard disc drives, such as during information handling system manufacture, since the hard disc drive enumeration should ideally match the WINDOWS enumeration. Linux boots initially in a “real” mode and then transitions to a “protected” mode in which an access layer protects information stored on the BIOS so that persistence of data between the modes is not accessible. One solution is have the BIOS store hard disc drive boot information in RAM during the real mode so that the information is accessible during the protected mode, however, this requires modification to BIOS firmware.